The aim of this series, as last year, is to provide a shortlist of players that meet this requirement. All players have at least potential 80, and all will have an OVR of 73 or lower. The original intention of this (in the FIFA 12 series) was to keep costs down, but looking at this list I’m not sure that’s a problem any more! Still, I’ll stick to 73 or lower for the sake of avoiding overwhelming you with options.
A new addition this year is that player contracts have a huge impact. The fewer years left on the contract, the more likely you are to get a good deal. So if a player only has 1 year left on his contract you can get him for much less than his asking price. As such, I’ve added a column that says how many years are left on each player’s contract, and whether you can get him in the first transfer window. That’s the “Avai?” column (short for “available?”). To save space I’ve formatted it like this: Y/3 would mean yes, you can buy this player in the first window, and he has 3 years left on his contract. If it says something like “N/5″ that means he has a 5 year contract and you can’t get him at first (the “N” is because he’s just joined the club), but you may be able to get them in the next window. The ones to look out for are Y/1 or Y/0, as some players only have months left on their contracts. Players who are on loan will have a “-” in this column because information on their contracts is not available.
Finally, if you see that a team is low on this position when you go to buy a player, don’t be put off. On FIFA 12 this meant, essentially, that you’d never be able to buy this player, as his team would never buy backups and thus would always refuse to sell him. In FIFA 13, however, it just means that you have to pay a little extra to get him.
Moving up from defensive we’ve got defensive midfielders. Plenty of familiar faces like Gabriel and Casemiro, but I expect Manchester United fans will be a little annoyed – in FIFA 12 Paul Pogba had OVR 60 and potential 80. Now that he’s gone to Juventus he’s got OVR 72 and potential 88! Still, at least there are lots of other options.
Here’s who I recommend:
- Gabriel
- Luca Marrone
- Bruno Zuculini
Gabriel returns from FIFA 12 and his potential is as high as it was then. His passing is his strong point, and you’ll be using him to start off attacks from the back. Unbelievably he’s about £4m cheaper than in FIFA 12 too, but the bad news is you can’t get him in the first transfer window. No matter, be patient and get him at the first available opportunity and you should still be able to get him for a ridiculously low price. Luckily you can get him on loan straight away if you can’t wait that long.
Unlike Gabriel, Luca Marrone is more of a traditional defensive midfielder. His tackling is excellent and he’s strong as well. In addition to that he can pass and shoot as well, so he’s not just a player who can break up attacks. Juventus don’t consider him a key player and he hasn’t just signed a new contract so you should be able to get a great deal on him, and with potential 86 he’s a player you should seriously consider.
How’s this for a bargain – you can get Bruno Zuculini (potential 82) for around £600,000 thanks to his contract coming to an end! Because his passing, tackling and long shots are all equally good it means he’s really flexible – use him as a deep-lying ball winner, a channel through which to play your attacks, or a box-to-box midfielder, as he’ll be just as adept in any of these roles. He’s pretty quick too, and is just going to get faster, so make sure to get him before he signs a new contract at Racing Club.
József Varga is a free agent so he’ll be assigned to a random team at the start of your career. Just search for his last name if you want to buy him. Lucky Baloyi can be found by setting the league to “Rest of World” in the search window and entering his name, then starting the search.
As in FIFA 12, make sure you keep checking these players, as their prices and OVR may fluctuate radically after over time. If you’ve had any experience of this (especially if a player’s price drops), please post it in the comments.
Here’s the complete list:
| Pos | Name | OVR | Pot | Age | Cost (£) | Wages (£) | Club | Avai? | Foot | Weak foot | Skills | Traits | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CDM | Gabriel | 66 | 88 | 18 | 1,300,000 | 1,000 | Vercelli | N/4 | Left | 4 | 3 | Long passer | |
| CDM | Paul Pogba | 72 | 88 | 19 | 3,700,000 | 8,000 | Juventus | N/4 | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| CDM | Luca Marrone | 73 | 86 | 22 | 3,600,000 | 10,000 | Juventus | Y/3 | Right | 3 | 3 | Long shot taker | |
| CDM | Casemiro | 72 | 86 | 20 | 3,600,000 | 6,000 | São Paulo | Y/4 | Right | 3 | 2 | ||
| CDM | Ezequiel Cirigliano | 72 | 84 | 20 | 3,300,000 | 7,000 | River Plate | Y/3 | Right | 3 | 2 | ||
| CDM | Emre Can | 65 | 83 | 18 | 950,000 | 2,000 | FC Bayern | N/2 | Right | 4 | 3 | ||
| CDM | Amidu Salifu | 72 | 83 | 19 | 3,200,000 | 7,000 | Catania | - | Right | 3 | 2 | On loan from Fiorentina | |
| CDM | Lucas Silva | 67 | 82 | 19 | 1,000,000 | 3,000 | Cruzeiro | Y/5 | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| CDM | Bruno Zuculini | 66 | 82 | 19 | 1,000,000 | 2,000 | Racing Club (Rest of World) | Y/1 | Right | 3 | 2 | ||
| CDM | Sergei Bryzgalov | 66 | 82 | 19 | 1,000,000 | 3,000 | Spartak Moskva | Y/4 | Right | 3 | 2 | ||
| CDM | Giannelli Imbula | 67 | 81 | 19 | 950,000 | 4,000 | EA Guingamp | Y/3 | Left | 3 | 3 | ||
| CDM | József Varga | 71 | 81 | 24 | 1,700,000 | 10,000 | Y/3 | Right | 4 | 3 | Finesse shot, long shot taker | Free agent | |
| CDM | Magomed Ozdoev | 71 | 81 | 19 | 1,800,000 | 6,000 | Lokomotiv | Y/3 | Right | 2 | 2 | ||
| CDM | Flávio Ferreira | 71 | 81 | 20 | 1,900,000 | 6,000 | Académica | Y/3 | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| CDM | Emmanuel Frimpong | 72 | 81 | 20 | 3,000,000 | 9,000 | Arsenal | Y/1 | Right | 3 | 3 | Power free-kick, injury prone | |
| CDM | Oriol Romeu | 72 | 81 | 20 | 3,000,000 | 9,000 | Chelsea | Y/3 | Right | 3 | 2 | ||
| CDM | Rodney Strasser | 72 | 81 | 22 | 3,000,000 | 9,000 | Milan | Y/4 | Right | 3 | 2 | ||
| CDM | Hinostroza | 65 | 80 | 18 | 750,000 | 1,500 | Zulte-Waregem | Y/4 | Right | 3 | 2 | Long passer | |
| CDM | Richard Lašik | 65 | 80 | 19 | 750,000 | 2,000 | Brescia | N/3 | Right | 2 | 2 | ||
| CDM | Nzuzi Toko | 67 | 80 | 21 | 1,000,000 | 4,000 | Grasshopper | Y/2 | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| CDM | Lucky Baloyi | 66 | 80 | 21 | 1,000,000 | 3,000 | Kaizer Chiefs | Y/3 | Right | 4 | 2 | Long passer | |
| CDM | Willian Arão | 66 | 80 | 20 | 1,000,000 | 3,000 | Corinthians | Y/4 | Right | 2 | 2 | ||
| CDM | Francesco Bolzoni | 69 | 80 | 23 | 1,200,000 | 4,000 | Siena | Y/1 | Right | 2 | 2 | ||
| CDM | Chico | 70 | 80 | 25 | 1,700,000 | 6,000 | Coritiba | - | Left | 3 | 2 | On loan from P. Säo Paulo | |
| CDM | Obiora Nwankwo | 70 | 80 | 20 | 1,900,000 | 6,000 | Padua | Y/2 | Right | 3 | 2 | ||
| CDM | Adilson | 73 | 80 | 25 | 2,300,000 | 10,000 | Terek Grozny | Y/2 | Right | 2 | 2 | ||
| CDM | Josuha Guilavogui | 73 | 80 | 21 | 2,700,000 | 10,000 | Saint-Etienne | Y/4 | Right | 3 | 2 |